With battery powered portable computers on the rise, the demand for efficient DC-to-DC power conversion is increasing. Battery life is of paramount importance to portable systems. Other important considerations are reducing space, weight and cost.
Switching regulators have long been known as offering a means for converting battery voltage in portable systems to other voltages at high efficiencies. However, a problem with previously available bipolar integrated circuit regulators has been that the switch operates at relatively low frequencies (e.g., in the neighborhood of 100 kHz). These low frequencies, while enabling the circuitry to operate with reasonable efficiency, require the use of relatively large external inductors and other components to form the switching regulator. Previously available high-speed, bipolar switching regulators that use smaller external components have suffered from a problem of inefficiency, and thus consume too much battery power.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an improved integrated circuit, bipolar switching regulator that operates at high-frequencies, in order to reduce the space, weight and cost of external inductors and other components used with the regulator.
It would further be desirable to provide circuits and methods for increasing the turn-off switching speed of such an integrated circuit switching regulator that operates at high efficiency, in order to prolong battery life in portable systems.